


Replacement

by Reader115



Series: Promise series [6]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 08:16:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6603511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader115/pseuds/Reader115
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Begins 5 years after 'Teamwork' - What happens when Leo is pulled out of his world to act as a replacement for a missing Leo? 5th story in a continuation series. Warning: Fluff and T-cest.  I don't own the turtles.</p><p>Originally posted on FF site from Aug 14, 2015 - Aug 22, 2015</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"You have to see this," Leo murmured in a low voice to Raph at his side.

The family had gathered along the sidelines of the dojo that evening to watch a small competition that Leo had organized between his students. He'd split the group into two teams and had them battle one group against the other. Since Machi had turned seven this year, she'd been allowed to begin full-on training with the rest of the team, instead of the one-on-one training he'd begun with her over two years ago. Leo had watched her thrive in the structured team training and had to keep a smirk off his face as he watched her disarm one of the more experienced bunnies.

Raphael, however, felt free to smirk, especially when he heard Usagi make a disgruntled noise from the other side of Leo.

The bunny went to retrieve the sais that Machi had knocked to the ground but jumped back as throwing stars landed in front of his floored weapon.

"Where did those come from?" Raph said, eyeing the stars now embedded in the floor of the dojo as he felt slightly sympathetic to the bunny who retreated without the twin to his weapon.

"Keep watching," Leo replied, keeping his eyes on his students.

Raph shifted his eyes to Akito and found him with dual katana, a new skill Leo had been working on with him, sparring with Violet and her nunchucks. He watched the two grin at each other as they circled.

Violet spun the chucks and Raph glanced over at Mikey who was watching her closely with his own smile. Leo had asked Mike if he'd work with Violet and give her tips for her chosen weapon and Mikey had happily agreed. Raph could see the improvement in her already.

Violet spun the chucks and got one wrapped around Akito's wrist, forcing him to drop a katana. He advanced towards her despite the loss and Raph watched as Akito picked up his dropped katana with his tail as he stepped over it. He was able to pass the katana from his tail to his free hand as he continued to advance towards the purple bunny.

Raph looked to Leo who turned his head and smiled back at him.

"Have you ever noticed how they hug us sometimes just using their tails?" Leo asked. "Our tails have never been very useful in battle so I didn't think about it before. But their tails can actually grip."

"Was our daughter carrying around throwing stars in her _tail_?" Raph asked, narrowing his eyes at Leo.

Leo chuckled. "I told her not to. I don't even know how she keeps getting her hands on them."

"Really? _No_ idea?" Raph asked, glancing down the line along the edge of the dojo to Miwa, who had also spent some one-on-one time training Machi and the two female bunnies.

Leo smiled again, glancing down at Miwa as well. "I checked her tail after the first time she did it and she manages to hold onto them without cutting herself."

Raph straightened and nodded. "So yer sayin she's already a bad-ass kunoichi?"

"She's your daughter. Of course she is."

Raph nudged the smirking Leo.

"Yame!" Leo announced and Raph smirked over at Master Splinter and then Donnie and Mikey as every furry student on the dojo floor, even Machi, immediately froze and bowed to their opponents.

Leo headed out onto the floor towards his students with Usagi following to listen in on the discussion about progress as Raph headed over to Casey and April. He reached up and tickled their five-year old daughter, Shadow, as she sat perched on Casey's shoulders.

"You keeping her up there just to keep her out of the action for as long as possible?" he asked.

"Yes, Uncle Raphael, we certainly are," April said, giving his shoulder a small nudge.

"Oh come on, April," Raph said. "Have you forgotten all of yer kunoichi skills?"

"Of course not. But watching all those little students flipping around with weapons and I just see danger now. I have no idea how my father even let me leave our apartment. Ever."

"If you'd never left yer apartment, you never would've met us. You would've been stuck with just this loser," Raph said, poking Casey in the chest.

Casey grabbed hold of Shadow's feet and lunged towards Raph with them, trying to force Shadow to kick him in the head. Shadow giggled as Raphael successfully dodged each attempt.

"Get him, Shadow!" Mikey yelled as he grabbed Raph from behind and tried to hold him still so Casey and Shadow's feet could get closer to Raph's head.

Raph twisted his body so that when he grabbed Mikey's arm and flipped him off his shell, he didn't hit Casey or Shadow on the way down. He went down a few seconds later when Mikey grabbed and pulled on one of his ankles.

He heard an "oomph" from Mikey as he made sure to fall directly on him, although he didn't remain there long as Donnie hit him from the side and knocked him off their baby brother. They laughed as Casey, minus Shadow, joined in their wrestling match. But all four froze when they heard another "Yame!" from across the room.

Their heads turned to Master Splinter, who stood by the dojo exit. "Since everyone else has already gone downstairs for Sunday dinner, would you be interested in joining us?" Master Splinter asked with a small smile as he turned and headed for the hallway.

They frowned as they realized that they'd missed everyone else leave and quickly hopped up off the floor and headed downstairs, shoving each other as they went.

When they reached Mike's apartment, Raph let everyone go ahead of him and smiled as Leo slipped out the door and met him in the empty hallway. Leo wrapped his arms around Raph and quickly kissed him.

"Get any new bruises, hothead?"

"Cant believe you ditched me," Raph said, kissing him again.

"Did you need me to save you?"

Raph scowled at him.

"I had to get the children away from the crazy wrestling adults," Leo said, smiling at the scowl. He slid his hands down to squeeze Raph's hands. "So what'd you think tonight?"

Raph squeezed Leo's hands in return. Leo wasn't one to want his ego stroked, so Raph had quickly learned over the past eleven years that they'd been together that these seemingly random questions from Leo meant he'd been harboring doubts for some time.

"Leo, ya know yer doin a great job with those kids, right? I mean, you saw them tonight. That's all due to their amazing sensei. We're all very proud of you, Master Leonardo, especially me." He watched the worry leave Leo's blue eyes as he spoke.

He didn't know why Leo, who worked harder than anyone Raphael had ever known, let his head fill with doubts. But he was grateful that a few words from him could easily chase them away.

He watched as the blue eyes suddenly sparked as Leo smiled at him again.

"You smilin cause I called ya Master Leonardo again?"

Leo nodded.

"You get me to say that way more often than I should, _Master_ _Leonardo_." He couldn't help but smile at Leo's smile as he leaned forward to kiss him again. "Come on, let's go eat dinner."

* * *

The next morning Leo quietly rose from bed and silently padded his way into his and Raph's bathroom. He immediately noticed a post-it covered with Raph's handwriting stuck to the mirror: " _You're as amazing on the inside as ya are from behind_."

Leo huffed out a quiet laugh as he turned and headed back into their dark bedroom. He stood by the side of the bed for a moment and admired the sleeping Raphael, letting his eyes slowly wander over the muscular body until his wrist was grabbed and he heard Raph growl, "Get back in here" as he yanked Leo down on top of him.

Leo let himself be pulled back into bed and pushed his face into Raphael's neck, although he wasted no time swiping his tongue across one of the sensitive areas and released a churr as he felt Raph's hands slide down his shell to fondle his rear end.

"Ya liked my note?"

Leo smirked into Raph's neck and grabbed hold of Raph's upper arms as he felt one of Raph's fingers press into him.

"Ya feel like skippin meditation to spend extra time with me this mornin?" Raph teased as he moved his finger deeper inside Leonardo.

Leo moaned and lifted his head to cover Raph's mouth with his own. He began pressing his hips forward so that his lower plastron rubbed against Raphael and heard Raph release a churr in response.

"That better be a yes cause I'm not lettin go of ya now," Raph growled at him.

Leo chuckled as he rubbed against Raph again and tightened his hold on Raph's biceps. He moved his mouth down to Raph's neck again and nipped at the emerald skin. Raph added a second finger and the attention had Leo moving his hips faster as he began to pant against Raph's skin.

Leo gasped as his body jerked in response to Raph hitting his prostate. He dropped down and Raphael quickly took hold of him, pulling more moans from Leo with long strokes as he hit Leo's prostate again and again. "Jeezus, Raph," Leo groaned out, and Raph could only grin at the knowledge that he had Leo this close this fast.

"Let me see it, Leo," Raph said as he continued to work his fingers in and out of Leo and could only churr himself as Leo's body spasmed on top of him.

Leo pressed his face hard into Raph's neck with his release, breathing in Raphael's scent as he panted and collapsed down on the muscled body beneath him. He only stayed there a moment as Raphael rolled them to the side and kissed Leo again. Leo smiled as he reached down between them and began to stroke Raphael.

Raph churred again and pushed Leo onto his shell before climbing on top of him. "I'm gonna start leavin ya notes more often," he said as he pushed his way into Leo's body. He pressed his own face into Leo's neck and listened to Leo moan out his name.

"Aishiteru, Leo," he whispered as he began moving his hips faster.

Leo's hands scrabbled over Raph's shell, grabbing hold of the edges as he wrapped his legs tightly around Raph's waist.

"Love you, Raph," he huffed out. "Love you."

Raph covered his mouth again and pushed his tongue into Leo's mouth as he grunted and reached his own fast release. He collapsed down on Leo's body and rested his face on Leo's plastron. When his breathing slowed a few moments later he lifted his face and was shocked to find that Leo had gone back to sleep. He grinned down at him and whispered, "Thanks for staying in bed with me."

He remained where he was, content to watch Leo sleep, until he heard the kids get up and start moving around the apartment. He lifted himself slowly from Leo and made his way out to the kitchen to start making breakfast.

"I'm going upstairs to meditate with dad," Akito said, heading for the door.

"He's still sleepin, bud," Raph said.

"What? Really?" Akito said, stopping in his tracks.

"Is he sick?" Machi asked from the kitchen table.

"No," Raph said, laughing. "He's just restin. He works hard and doesn't let himself relax often enough." He turned back to the stove so the kids couldn't see his grin as he thought how well his relaxation technique had worked that morning. "Come sit," he said. "I'll have breakfast ready in a few minutes anyway."

Akito shrugged and sat next to Machi. He leaned over and eyed the math homework she was working on. "Isn't that due first thing this morning?" he whispered harshly to her.

Machi pushed Akito's face away from her paper and scowled at him.

He grinned back at her in return and then grinned up at Leo as he walked into the kitchen. Leo smiled back at him as he leaned down to kiss the top of Machi's head. He moved over to Raph and ran his hand across the back of Raph's neck.

"Have I said good morning to you, yet?" Raph asked, wondering if Leo knew about the shiver that ran down his spine _every_ time Leo touched him like that. He smiled at Leo and then flipped the pancakes on the griddle.

"No, you haven't. Jerk," Leo responded, smiling back.

Raphael laughed and elbowed Leo away from the stove. He pushed him towards the fridge with instructions to _just_ pour drinks for everyone's breakfast.

Leo laughed again and turned to pull cups down from the cupboard when he suddenly felt dizzy. "Raphie," he said harshly as he reached out to grab the kitchen counter. He lifted his eyes to Raphael's and felt confused as he watched Raphael's eyes actually widen in terror.

"Leo!" Raph said, lunging forward to grab Leo's arm. His hand swiped through the air as Leo disappeared right in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

Leo felt a tremor go through his body as he suddenly found himself standing in the middle of Donnie's lab. Donnie's lab in the lair. In the sewer.

His eyes widened as he looked around. The last time he'd seen the lair lab it had been completely emptied since Donnie had moved all his things to his new building. But right now the lair's lab was completely covered in papers and machines. He found Donnie sitting at a lab table staring wide-eyed back at him.

"It worked," Donnie whispered out.

"What worked?" Leo asked. "What are you doing in the lair, Donnie? When did you move all this stuff down here?"

Donnie stood and moved closer to Leo. His mouth hung open as he stared openly at his big brother.

Leo's eyes widened as Donnie approached. Donnie looked different. Younger. He glanced down at Donnie's left hand. No "S" mark on a finger. He took a step back.

"Who are you?"

"It worked," Donnie repeated.

"Who. Are. You?" Leo questioned again, stepping into an offensive pose.

"Whoa, whoa, Leo, I'm Donatello. I'm your brother!"

"You are not my brother."

Donnie rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. "Well, technically, no I'm not because we weren't raised together. But I am still your brother. You're just from a different world." Donnie shrugged.

"What?" Leo shook his head. "No, Donnie."

"I figured there must be other dimensions and I made this machine to look for another you," Donnie said. He could see Leo was in shock so he tried to keep his excitement over his success to a minimum.

"Where am I? Why did you bring me here?"

"I – we – we need a Leo."

"What?" Leo repeated. His chest felt tight as a bad feeling began to grow within. "And you thought any Leo would do? Where is your Leo?"

Donnie shrugged again.

"I – I don't understand what that means."

"I don't know where he is. He left."

"Left? When?"

"Two years ago."

"Why didn't you make a machine to look for your own Leo in this world?"

Donnie paused. "Our – our Leo doesn't want to be here."

"Do I look like I want to be here?"

Donnie looked at the ground again. "You just got here. Maybe you'll-,"

"Send me back _, right now_ , Donatello!" Leo growled, glaring at him.

Donnie froze for a minute. It had been two years since he'd seen Leo but also two years since he'd heard that leader tone of voice he'd been trained to listen to. He'd never been so happy to hear anything in his whole life.

"It-it doesn't work that way. It's a one-way transporter."

"What? What was your exit strategy for getting me back home?" Leo felt his breathing quicken and his chest tighten again as he watched Donnie's eyes move to the floor of the lab. "So your plan was to bring me here and I'd just live here forever?" He was completely aware that he was beginning to yell. His knees felt funny and he looked around the room until he found a stool and quickly sat himself down on it. "Call Usagi. He's got an inter-dimensional transporter. He can take me home."

"Who's Usagi?"

"Oh, fuck," Leo said, letting his face drop down on one of Don's lab counters.

"Heh. Our Leo doesn't swear."

"Well neither do I. That's how bad this is, Don."

"And he's never called me Don."

"I'm not your Leo! I have to go back. I have a family!"

"Well, I don't! Not since you disappeared."

" _I didn't_ disappear from your world. But now you've made me disappear from mine. How could you do this?"

Donnie chewed on his lower lip and watched his distraught big brother take several deep breaths. "We need you, Leo."

Leo's head suddenly swung to the lab door as he heard his baby brother's voice approaching.

"Hey, Donnie, I don't feel like cooking so do you want me to -," Michelangelo froze when he spotted Leo sitting on one of Don's stools.

Mikey ran to him and Leo stood up to greet the baby brother. He was shocked though when Mikey flung his arms around his shell and pressed his face into Leo's plastron. Leo's arms flew up in surprise before he gently patted the back of Mikey's shell in return. Mikey pulled back and looked back at Leo's face and Leo's eyes widened at just how young Mikey appeared. He watched, though as Mike's eyes narrowed and he took a step back away from Leo.

Mike turned to Donnie. "What did you do? You said you'd find Leo. That's not our Leo, dude."

"But he is _Leo_."

"But not _ours_ ," Mikey repeated, looking Leo over one more time before he turned and left the lab.

Donnie sighed. "We need you, Leo," he repeated. "I can't do this by myself anymore. Mikey doesn't joke or laugh. And Raph-,"

Leo tensed at Raphael's name. Of course there would be another Raph here.

"- is going to end up dead soon if he keeps going the way he's been going."

"Where is Master Splinter?" Leo asked.

Donnie rubbed the back of his neck again. "You're older than we are. We're twenty," he provided before asking, "How old are you?"

"Thirty," Leo said.

"Thirty," Donnie repeated in awe. "Is Master Splinter still with you?"

Leo's eyes lifted quickly to Donnie again. "Yes."

Donnie's eyes widened slightly. He looked down at his lab table. "Our Master Splinter got sick two winters ago. He died."

"He's not here?" Leo asked, his chest tightening again as he realized he wouldn't be able to consult with his father. Or ever see him again if he couldn't get out of this world. "Did he die before your Leo left or after?"

"He died shortly before."

Leo felt slightly relieved at that, even though it wasn't him who had left. At least this other Leo had been here when their father passed.

"Where is Raphael?" Leo asked. He wasn't sure he wanted to see him. But he at least wanted to know where he was. He watched Donnie shrug.

He thought about what their younger ages in this world meant. If these turtles were twenty and their Leo left two years ago at eighteen, then that meant this Leo had left a good year before he and Raphael would've reconciled and gotten together. This world's Leo and Raph didn't even know what they were missing. Actually, he took that back. They probably did know what they were missing. They just didn't know they could actually have it.

"You asked before what I was doing in the lair. Why wouldn't I be in the lair?"

"Donnie, listen to me," Leo said, ignoring his question. "I need you to send me back. Ok? Just – just get to work on your machine and reverse it so I can go back. If you need help, just get Sadie down here."

"Who's Sadie?"

"Oh come on!" Leo said, throwing his hands in the air. He felt slightly ridiculous but the panic was beginning to really set in.

"I don't know how to even begin to reverse it, Leo. It took me months to get it to work this way."

Leo sat back down on the stool again and let his chin drop to his plastron. _Months_? He thought carefully about his next statement before he said it. It was selfish, but he didn't really care in that moment.

"Fine, then bring _my_ Raph here."

Donnie lifted one shoulder and Leo felt his stomach clench.

"It – the machine is programmed to find you. To find a Leo. It doesn't find anyone else."

Leo stood, ready to actually charge at this other version of his younger brother. Raph's grinning face, followed by Akito's and Machi's faces flashed in his mind before everything went dark.

* * *

When Leo woke he was in a bed in what looked like his old bedroom in the lair. He stayed right where he was and willed himself to go back to sleep and wake up again in his own world with his face pressed into his own Raph's neck. Was it just that morning that he'd woken and found the post-it from Raph on their bathroom mirror?

And Raph. Leo knew Raph must be frantic. As well as the kids. After the Winters' incident five years ago, they'd managed to avoid major battles, major bruises and disappearing for days in a row to try to give the kids a stable, normal environment. They'd even figured out a way to get the kids set up with a tutor for school. But literally disappearing into thin air in front of them would not be counted as normal in any way.

He pictured what they were probably doing now. First there would've been shock at what they'd seen happen. Then Akito would try to be brave and calm as they tried to figure out what happened to him, which was good, because Machi tended to favor Raphael's methods of stomping around angrily when she was upset.

He pulled his T-phone off his belt and swiped it open. No signal. Of course. He pulled up his photo album though and swiped through it as pictures of Raph and their family filled the screen. He swallowed over a lump in his throat.

Even though he wasn't in any immediate danger and even though he was sitting in a place identical to the one he'd called home for over 24 years, he'd never felt this frightened or alone before. There was no immediate way home.

Months. Donnie had said it had taken months for the machine to work. Going home in a few months would be better than being stuck here forever. But months? He was going to miss Halloween. And this was probably the last year Akito would want to go before he declared himself too old. He'd miss Thanksgiving. Christmas. What if the kids got sick? He wouldn't be there to help take care of them.

And Raphael. How was he supposed to go months without Raphael? His eyes filled and he quickly sat up and exited the bedroom. He headed downstairs into the darkened lair and wondered just how long he'd been passed out if everyone else had gone to bed. His stomach growled and he thought about the pancake breakfast he didn't get a chance to eat that morning as he headed to the kitchen.

He was chewing on cold pizza - the only thing he could find in the fridge - when he heard heavy footsteps at the entrance of the lair. He silently headed that way and narrowed his eyes when he spotted this world's Raph head clumsily towards the stairs.

Raph stopped suddenly and turned, his eyes focusing immediately on Leo. Leo watched the emotions run through those green eyes as soon as he was spotted. Disbelief. Hope. Happiness.

Raph lumbered over to him and immediately lifted a hand to Leo's cheek. His eyes narrowed on Leo's face though and Leo was sure that Raph could see the age difference. And now that Raph was this close, he could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Are you drunk?" Leo asked and watched as Raph snatched his hand back and took a few steps away from him.

"Who are you?" Raph asked and then Leo heard it too. The voice was close, but it wasn't the same. The pitch was off. His voice must've sounded wrong to this Raph as well. Strange he hadn't noticed any difference in Mike's or Don's voices when he spoke to them earlier.

Before Leo could answer, Raph lunged to the side and bolted for the bathroom. Leo sighed and followed him. He'd seen Raph drink in the past but he'd never actually seen him drunk before. He wet a washcloth with cold water and put it on the back of Raph's neck as he hung his head over the toilet.

"Don't need yer help," Raph growled up at him.

"Fine," Leo said, turning to go.

"Wait," Raph said, shifting himself back until his shell hit the wall behind him. He slid his eyes shut. "Who the fuck are you?"

Leo stopped but kept his shell to this Raph. "I'm not your Leo."

"No shit," Raph said. He took a slow breath to try to calm his stomach as he tried to ignore how nice the washcloth felt on his neck. "Our Leo isn't comin back. Not after-,"

Leo turned when Raph didn't continue. He quickly saw that the drunk hothead had fallen asleep. Leo scowled at him in the dark bathroom and quickly turned again to leave.

He left the lair and began sprinting through the familiar tunnels until he reached what should've been the location of the hidden elevator for Hamato Engineering. Except there was no secret button. No secret elevator. He reached street level via a manhole cover instead and stood in the shadows as he stared up at the dark, rundown building that should've been his home.


	3. Chapter 3

Mikey poked his head into Donnie's lab and found his genius brother still hard at work on that new machine. He pushed the lab door open and carried the tray of food in to him. Leo had _forbidden_ Donnie from leaving his lab unless it was to take a bathroom break or eat dinner at the newly Leo-mandated family dinners. Otherwise he'd ordered Donnie to stay in the lab and work on reversing his machine to allow Leo to go home.

Leo had also ordered Mikey to not only cook the four of them three meals a day but to bring breakfast and lunch into Donnie and make sure he ate it. Mikey wanted to complain about the order but there was something about the way Leo had given it, as if he already knew how much Mikey liked to cook _and_ that he was also disappointed that Mikey wasn't already handling this on his own. Plus, Mikey knew Leo was right about the food. They hadn't been eating well for at least the past year because Mikey had been too sad to think about cooking and no one else ever even tried to cook. Leo had gone on a grocery store run with him the second night he was here and helped him carry several bags of food back home.

Other than those two orders, Mikey noted that Leo hadn't done much else since his arrival. He'd be in the dojo meditating when Mikey got up to cook breakfast. He'd check in with Donnie several times a day to see if he was making progress. He'd practice katas. And he'd sit up in their Leo's bedroom. Mikey knew Leo was upset, but he couldn't decide if he was happy or angry that this other Leo mostly kept to himself.

Mikey set the tray down on Donnie's lab counter and sat in a stool next to him, ready to wait for Donnie to stop working on his current equations and eat.

"Did you really think you could replace our Leo with another Leo?" he asked Donnie as Donnie took a bite of his sandwich.

"Something happened to our Leo. Something that would make him want to leave the family. I just thought we could use a Leo who would stay with the family."

"We should've done something like this to find our Leo right away," Mikey said. "He always took care of us. And if something did happen to him, we should've found him right away and fixed it for him. That's what he would've done for us."

"Yeah, you're right, Mikey," Donnie said, nodding his concession. "I'm going to get us out of this mess with this other Leo and then that's exactly what we're going to do."

* * *

After his run-in with Raph that first night, Leo thought it was going to be hard to be around him. But in the light of day, he quickly saw that this Raphael's emerald skin looked dull, probably thanks to excessive alcohol intake if that first night was any indication. And after a few days of observing their routine, it was pretty clear that none of these three brothers stepped foot into the dojo on a regular basis. Or at all. Which probably also explained why this Raph didn't have nearly the amount of muscle mass that Leo was used to seeing on his own emerald turtle. And Leo didn't realize how much he'd become accustomed to his mark on Raph's arm until he had to face a Raph without it.

Not that he saw Raph that often. He seemed to sleep through most of the day, appear at the dinner table and then disappear for the night.

On one of his check-ins with Donnie to ask about progress, something that was probably driving Donnie crazy but Leo couldn't stop doing, Donnie had mentioned that Raph had stormed in on Leo's second day there to ask where this other Leo had come from. So Leo knew that this Raph knew he wasn't here by choice. It didn't seem to stop the hothead from scowling at Leo when they were in the same room, though.

Like now, as they all sat down to eat dinner together.

Leo did his best to ignore the glare.

"Do you have an extra T-phone charger?" Leo asked Donnie as he sat at the table. He only turned his phone on once a day so he could look through his photo album. But he'd been here almost two weeks and the battery was just about dead. "I didn't get a chance to pack mine."

"Of course," Donnie said, ignoring the jab because he was glad to finally be able to provide Leo with something.

"Our Leo could be kind of a sarcastic jerk sometimes, too," Raph said, jumping to Donnie's defense.

Mikey chewed on his salad silently and avoided looking at his three big brothers.

Donnie shook his head at Raph before turning back to Leo who was eyeing Raph strangely. "I can also give you a T-phone that actually works here."

Leo shifted his eyes to Donnie. "And how much longer do you think I'll be here, Donatello? Do you really think I need to be set up with a working phone?"

"I, um, don't know, exactly, Leo. But it'd still be safer for you to walk around with a working phone."

Mikey watched Leo's internal debate about it. In the end, the safety bit must've won out over his desire not to tie himself here in any way because Leo gave Donnie a quick nod.

"I don't know why yer gonna waste a phone on him, Donnie," Raph said. "Even if you can't get that machine to work, he's out of here."

"Where am I going to go?" Leo asked him.

The fierce blue-eyed gaze shocked Raphael but he did his best not to let it show. "Who knows? But you'll leave. That's what Leos do." He pushed himself away from the table and left his half-full plate there as he stormed out of the lair.

They watched him leave and then Mikey turned to Leo. "Still want to force us through these family dinners every night?"

Leo only glared down at his plate and said, "This is excellent chicken, Mikey."

* * *

 Leo waited to make sure Mike and Donnie were in bed before strapping on spare katana he found in the dojo and heading out in search of their missing hothead that night. He wasn't at all surprised to find him in the very first place he thought to look either.

He landed on Casey's rooftop and watched as Casey jumped up with enough force to knock his folding chair backwards to topple on the ground as he stared wide-eyed at Leo.

"Yer back?"

"No," Raph said, still sitting in his own folding chair. He took a sip from his beer can and said, "That's a fake Fearless."

Casey took a few steps towards Leo and reached out to poke him in the plastron, which made Raph bark out a laugh. "He's a real turtle, doofus. He's just not the real Leo."

"Did Donnie cook him up in his lab?" Casey asked, taking a sip from his own can before he leaned in close to Leo's face. He poked Leo in the cheek and Leo grabbed the offending finger and twisted it. "Ow!" Casey said. "Bad robot!"

"Yer such a moron," Raph said. "He's not a robot. He's from another dimension. He's _someone else's_ Leo."

Leo's eyes narrowed in on Raphael's face at that strange statement and he watched as Raph ducked his eyes before finishing the can of beer in his hand and reaching into a small cooler between their chairs to pull out a new one.

"Want a beer then fake-but-not-a-robot-Leo?" Casey asked as he righted his chair and plopped back down into it.

"Perfect leader don't drink," Raph muttered as he scooted down in his chair and appeared as if he were about to take a nap.

"Where's April, Casey?" Leo asked.

Casey laughed. "April. April realized she was way too good for me."

"Damn straight she is," Raph said as his eyes closed.

"Dumped my ass. She's busy with college."

Leo thought back to Casey at this age in his own world. He had been trying to get April to dump him while also trying to get Raph's help to get away from his abusive, alcoholic father.

"How about your sister, Casey, where is she?" He watched Casey's eyes fly up to his face and knew he'd hit a nerve.

Great. Something else for him to fix.

"Go pack a bag. I want you to come stay at the lair with us for a while." He waited to see if Casey was going to argue.

But Casey could tell Leo knew something about his family that he was currently too ashamed to tell Raphael. He glanced over at Raph, who appeared to be falling asleep in his chair, and stood up to head to the fire escape and do as Leo asked. His dad wouldn't be home for a few more hours and he was more than relieved to realize he wouldn't be here when the old man arrived.

Leo watched him go and then leaned forward to take the beer from sleeping Raph's hand. He poured it out onto the rooftop and tossed the can in a pile with the others. He shook his head at this irritating version of his mate. If he had Casey move into the lair, it would not only help Casey out, but may also work to get Raph to stop putting himself in danger by walking home intoxicated with dulled senses.

When Casey returned with a hockey bag full of stuff, Leo grabbed Raph's arm and swung him up onto his shell. Raph grunted but didn't protest, which was telling to Leo. If this particular Raph was awake he'd never let Leo carry him like this.

They walked through the sewers in silence and when they reached the lair, Leo sent Casey up to their spare bedroom. He couldn't imagine that the hammock would be a good idea for a drunk Raphael since he couldn't currently balance himself and he'd probably end up sick by the swinging alone. So he deposited Raph on the couch in the living room. He grabbed a blanket and was surprised when Raph grabbed his wrist as he was covering him up.

'You smell like him," Raph mumbled. Leo pulled on his wrist and was frustrated to find that although he wasn't as bulky as Leo's own Raph, he was still ridiculously strong.

"Well you smell like beer," Leo said, pulling again at his wrist as he scowled at Raphael.

"Gonna lecture me about drinking, Fearless?"

"No," Leo said.

"Why not?" Raph asked. He rolled to his side and peeked a green eye open to look up at Leo.

"Because I know that lectures don't work on Raphaels."

"So what does work?"

Although he got a sharp pain for his efforts, Leo finally twisted his wrist with enough force to free it from Raph's strong grip. "Not something that I'm going to try on you," he muttered as he turned and headed up the stairs.

He removed his katana, flopped down on the other Leo's bed and pulled his T-phone out to flip through his photos once again before going to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

"Wake up. Its time for training," Leo said, giving Raph's shell a hard shove that sent him tumbling off the couch and onto the ground.

He snarled a few choice words at Leo and watched as Mikey, Donnie and even Casey dutifully followed Leo into the dojo. He stayed on the ground in protest for a few moments but the sound of Leo's leader voice directing the others through a warm up forced him to push himself off the ground and head into the dojo as well.

Leo didn't look in Raph's direction when he entered since he didn't want to bring attention to the fact that Raph had chosen practice over going back to bed. Leo had been pretty sure the hothead would refuse to join them altogether.

By the end of practice he was somewhat disappointed to see how far behind this team was. When he asked, Raphael glared at him but Mikey and Donnie admitted they'd stopped training when Leo left.

He dismissed them and watched as Casey headed back to bed, Donnie headed to his lab and Mikey headed to the kitchen to cook breakfast. But Raph moved over to his punching bag and began taping up his hands.

Leo approached him as Raph began throwing punches.

"You gonna try to whip us back into shape, Fearless?"

"I'm going to keep training for as long as I'm here. You all may as well join me," Leo said, stepping behind the bag to hold it steady for Raph. "There is something I don't understand, though."

Raph grunted in response.

"I can see Mikey not practicing without some sort of structured schedule. And I can see Donnie pick his lab over the dojo. But I can't see you just quitting. When was the last time you even picked up one of your weights?"

Raph's eyes moved to Leo's face and he caught Leo's blue eyes trailing over his arms.

"I'm sure you and your Leo competed with each other in this room growing up," Leo continued. "Do you really need a Leo here in order to keep up with your training? Is he the only reason you worked so hard to be a ninja?"

Raph growled at him as he threw another few punches. "You don't know anythin about me."

"That's where you're wrong, Raphael. I know almost everything about you."

Raph's eyes flashed over the kanji mark he'd previously noted on Leo's arm. It was one symbol, not an entire name but it was still _his_ symbol. He wondered again if it was a coincidence.

"You should stop scowling at me. I know you don't hate me. Or your Leo."

Raph's eyes flew up to Leo's face. "What makes you think so?" he asked after a moment. He watched Leo smirk as he let go of the punching bag and began to walk away from him. Raph stood where he was and began to wonder what Leo meant when he suddenly felt Leo's hand run across the back of his neck. He gasped at the shiver he felt run down his spine. When he finally turned around he found the dojo empty.

 _Smug bastard_ , he thought and growled as he went back to throwing punches.

* * *

Leo left the dojo and walked into the kitchen to find Mikey flipping pancakes. He froze as a now familiar pang hit his chest as a picture of Raph flipping pancakes for him and the kids on his last morning with them entered his mind.

He was about to leave when Mikey noticed him and gave him a small nod.

It was such an uncharacteristic Mikey greeting that Leo stopped his retreat and was reminded again that he wasn't the only one hurting here. He sat at the table and regarded his baby brother's shell for moment as Mikey began pouring more batter on the griddle.

"What are your plans for today, Mikey?"

Mikey glanced back at him for a moment and then shrugged one shoulder. "No plans."

"Sounds boring."

Another shoulder shrug.

Leo frowned. His Mikey would never willingly be bored. He'd poke and whine and prod and plead until someone agreed to entertain him.

"What video game are you playing right now?" Leo asked. He could remember certain things about their lives at twenty but exactly what video game Mikey had been trying to beat at the time wasn't one of those things. He'd been pretty busy taking over all of their training from Master Splinter at twenty and hadn't had a lot of spare time.

Mikey glanced at him again, slightly suspicious about Leo's interest. "Ghosts." He watched Leo frown. "Call of Duty," he added.

Leo's eyes widened. He hadn't joined in the tournament, but he remembered the competition Mikey had set up over that game. It had almost started turtle world war 3,456 in the lair and in the end, Woody had come out the victor.

"Woody is pretty good at that one, isn't he?" He almost smiled when Mikey whipped around to look at him. Finally. That got his attention.

"You know Woody?" Mikey asked, doing his best to not look nervous. His Leo didn't know anything about Woody. His Leo would hate that he'd revealed himself to a human. Or that he sometimes got free pizza from that human. Or that he sometimes hung out at that human's apartment to play video games and watch movies and come up with stupid jokes. Not as often in the last year or two though. He missed Woody but it seemed more important that he stick closer to the lair with Leo gone.

"Yeah I know Woody," Leo said in a quiet voice. "I haven't seen him since I've been here though. He doesn't come over?"

Mikey huffed out a laugh. "No." He could only imagine the reaction that would get from everyone. Although, he eyed Leo again, maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he's picturing.

"Have you met Woody's sister?" Leo asked.

Mike's eyes flashed to Leo again and he nodded again. Yes, he had met Sadie. It was an accident, though. Woody thought she'd be out for the night so they were caught off guard when she'd returned home and found them having movie night. Woody had tried to introduce him as a friend who liked to wear a turtle costume. But Woody was a terrible liar, something Mikey kind of liked about him, and Sadie didn't buy it. And in the end she hadn't been all that freaked out when Mikey admitted he was a mutant turtle. Woody said later that Sadie's science brain probably explained why she wasn't upset. Mikey kind of figured that after seeing aliens take over the city, catching your little brother watching movies with a mutant turtle wasn't that bad.

"You should invite them over," Leo said.

"Uh, ok," Mikey said, immediately excited. "Woody's a great cook. Maybe we can make dinner for everyone."

"Perfect," Leo said, taking the plate of pancakes Mikey offered him.

He listened to Mikey start whistling and picked up his fork to eat.

* * *

Raphael startled awake when he heard Machi cry out. He bolted up from the couch and headed into her room. He sat on the edge of her bed and she jumped into his lap, pressing herself into his plastron and grabbing hold of his hands.

"Your hands were disappearing," she said and he shushed her and rocked back and forth until her breathing slowed and she calmed down enough to release her tiny death grip on his own hands. He returned her to her pillow and covered her up when he realized she'd fallen back to sleep. He watched her for a few moments. She didn't have these nightmares every night but often enough that this was becoming routine.

He rubbed a hand down his face and headed back to the living room. He refused to sleep in his and Leo's bedroom without Leo so he'd been sleeping on their living room couch for the past month. When he reached the couch he found Akito sitting on it.

"Did she wake you up again?"

Akito nodded. "When is he coming back?"

Raph sat on the couch and sighed. "I don't know, buddy."

"I'm not going trick-or-treating."

"Machi will be disappointed," Raph said, although he wasn't surprised by Akito's declaration.

"She doesn't want to go either," Akito said. "How can we when we don't know where he is? What if they're hurting him? And we're out wearing costumes for candy?"

Raph rubbed his hands over his tired eyes. He didn't know what to say to his worried children. He was worried, too. He wasn't sure how to act like everything was going to be fine when it had been a whole month without one glimpse of Leo or one sign that he was ok. He tried to think of what Leo would say to Akito.

"Well, what yer dad say if he came home safe and sound the day after Halloween and found out you guys didn't go trick-or-treating because of him?"

He watched Akito consider it. "He'd be upset. He'd feel guilty."

Raph nodded. Very true. Leo would return from being turtle-napped and still manage to feel guilty because the kids had missed out on something due to his absence.

"It's up to you, buddy. But right now, its time to get back in bed." He walked Akito back to his room and shut his door once he saw him disappear under his blanket.

He sat back down on the couch and stared off into the kitchen. The last place he'd seen Leo. Donnie had been all over it to make sure there wasn't some strange portal in the middle of their kitchen. There wasn't. Not one Don could find anyway.

He stood and paced the living room. He couldn't stand to sit here and do nothing. But he couldn't leave the kids here alone either. And when they woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares and concerns they only wanted him, which prevented him from using the nights to roam the city.

He moved to one of their windows and looked out into the city. "Where the hell are you, Leo?"

* * *

Raph watched Leo during their morning practices. His movements were as smooth and as familiar to him as ever. He almost scowled when he realized that Leo had been right about the competition he'd always felt growing up with his own Leo. Seeing how advanced Leo was certainly had him pushing himself through the katas to try to catch up. He also stayed after each morning and began lifting weights again. He could feel strength returning to his limbs.

When Leo first suggested Casey move in with them, Raph didn't understand it. But he didn't question it because he thought it'd be great to have his drinking buddy right on hand every night. Plus, Fearless had already said he wasn't going to lecture him about the alcohol. But a few nights of drinking followed by a few mornings where Leo kicked his hung-over ass in training and Raph quit altogether. He grumbled to himself a few days later when he realized that had probably been Leo's plan in the first place.

Because he'd taken to watching Leo during practice and throughout the lair, he recognized that Leo was off today. In general, Leo was sad. Raph hadn't seen him laugh or smile once since he arrived. As far as Raph knew, Leo hadn't shared any details about his life in his own world with any of them. And it was very clear to him that Leo wanted to go home. But it was also clear to him that there was something else going on today.

Leo disappeared after dinner that night. Raph thought he'd gone to bed but when he walked past Leo's open bedroom door, he found Leo's room completely empty.

 _Sneaky, silent turtle_ , he thought. He glanced at Casey and Mikey who were involved in a video game on the couch before he ducked out of the lair to hunt for Leo.

It took nearly an hour before he found Leo sitting on the edge of a building with his feet hanging over the side. He took a seat next to him and glanced over the edge at the people below. Leo didn't acknowledge him. Raph watched Leo's breaths come out as white puffs in the cold air as he began to wonder if he should've just left him alone.

Several moments passed before Leo said, "Its Halloween down there."

Raph frowned and looked over the edge again. They hadn't celebrated Halloween since they were children. He was about to ask what the big deal was but shut his mouth when he looked at Leo and saw the deep sadness on his face. Leo didn't return his gaze but just continued to stare down at the street.

He didn't understand why this particular holiday would upset Leo but it clearly did. So he bit back his sarcastic comment and instead said, "I'm sorry, Leo. I'm sorry yer stuck here."

Leo turned to the hothead at the unusual soft words and thought about how cruel it was that he should miss Raphael so fiercely but still have to look at his emerald face every day.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked Raph.

Raph shrugged. He didn't want to admit to Leo that he'd been worried about him. Or that he didn't like him going off by himself, especially in the cold. He looped an arm around Leo's shell and watched as Leo glared at him and tried to pull his shoulder away.

"Relax," he said. "I just can't stand to watch you sit here shivering."


	5. Chapter 5

When Mikey showed up in the lair with two humans, Raphael was pretty sure Leo was going to freak. He was also pretty sure it would be great dinnertime entertainment.

Instead, Raph sat silently and watched as Leo made polite conversation with both Woody and Sadie. He wouldn't say that Leo sat joking with them but he noticed that Leo did seem oddly comfortable with them. Mikey and Donnie followed Leo's lead and happily joined in the conversation as well. By the end of the meal Leo had even suggested that the two humans come back to visit whenever they wanted.

They seemed to take him up on it too. Raph watched Sadie gravitate towards Donnie and his lab as Woody became a fixture in their living room, usually helping Mikey hog the TV.

Raphael dug through the fridge and began to pull out some left-over take-out boxes. They were on their own for dinner that night since Mikey had gone out, with Leo's encouragement, to spend time with Woody. Casey was out having a dinner date with April after he had called her and, again at Leo's encouragement, apologized for acting like a jerk. And he was pretty sure that he'd seen Sadie head into Don's lab earlier that afternoon.

Raph headed to the couch and was surprised to see Leo sitting there by himself. After dinner Leo usually went up to his room and they didn't see him for the rest of the night. He certainly never saw Leo watch TV. He sat down at the other end of the couch from him and leaned over to hand Leo a take-out box since he was pretty sure Fearless hadn't eaten anything for dinner yet either.

Leo absently took the box he was offered and stared down at leftovers of his favorite kung pao shrimp. He frowned at it and then frowned back up at Raph who was busy scooping chicken and rice into his mouth.

"What?" Raph said, noting the frown. "Its yer favorite."

Leo nodded and turned back to the news. He was trying to pay attention, but he had a hard time concentrating on the TV since his arrival in this world. It seemed wrong to sit and do something as trivial as watch television. He'd been about to head into Donnie's lab to see if he'd made any progress when Raph had joined him on the couch.

Raph glanced at him again. "You told me to stop scowlin at you a couple weeks ago," he said before pausing to take another bite. "You act like yer not used to it. Yer Raphael doesn't scowl at you? You two don't fight all the time?"

Leo shook his head.

"How'd you manage that?" He watched as Leo stared into his take-out box and realized after a few moments that Leo wasn't going to answer his question. "Well, what was the last fight you two even had?"

Leo thought about it and decided sharing wouldn't really give anything away. "I texted him a picture of a pan he keeps leaving on top of the stove and asked him if he was aware that its actually supposed to be stored in the drawer _under_ the stove."

Raph stared at him. Their last big fight was about not putting dishes away correctly? "You've gotta be fuckin kiddin me."

Leo huffed out a small laugh, the first Raph had seen in the almost two months Leo had been with them.

"That's pretty much what his reply text said as well," Leo said and let a small smile cross his face as he listened to Raph's rumbling laugh fill the room.

* * *

" _What are you doing out here, Raphie?"_

_Raphael turned so his shell was to Leo as he used the back of his hand to wipe tears from his cheeks._

_It had taken Leo almost half an hour to find Raphael after he finally figured out that Raph had left the lair._

" _We're not supposed to be out in these tunnels, Raph. We're going to get in trouble."_

" _Then go back," Raph said, keeping his shell to his big brother. "No one asked you to come out here."_

_Leo frowned as he heard the strange tilt in Raph's voice. "Are you crying? Are you hurt?" He moved quickly and kneeled in front of where Raph sat to get a good look at him._

" _No!" Raph said, as he tried to push Leo away._

" _Then what's wrong?"_

_Raph shook his head and looked away, unable to meet Leo's blue eyes._

_Leo narrowed his eyes and then cupped his hands on either side of his little brother's emerald face to force Raph to look at him. He raised an eye ridge in silent question._

_Raph huffed out a breath in response but reached beside him and picked something up to hand to Leo._

_Leo released Raph's face and looked down to take what was offered. "Is that my book?"_

_Raph nodded._

" _What happened to it?" He turned it over in his hands. It was sticky and looked like most of the pages were now missing._

" _I spilled juice," Raph said._

" _And then?" Leo asked, trying to hide a smile._

" _I tried to dry the pages but they started coming out and tearing into pieces. I destroyed it."_

" _Raphie," Leo said, putting the book down so he could cup Raph's face again. "I don't care about that book."_

" _Its yer favorite. You read it all the time."_

" _Only because it's my_ ** _only_** _book. I don't even like it that much."_

_Raph rolled his eyes at Leo's smile._

" _I'd much rather have you home safe than out here worrying about some book," Leo said, sliding his hands down to shake Raph's shoulders. "Let's go back before father comes home and sees that we're gone. OK?"_

_Raph's eyes darted back down to Leo's ruined book next to them._

_Leo tightened his hold on Raph's shoulders and leaned forward to kiss him quickly on the lips. He smiled when Raph's green eyes shifted away from the book and back to him. "OK?"_

_Raph felt something squirm in his stomach as he smiled back at Leo and nodded._

Raphael opened his eyes from the dream and stared at the ceiling. Ever since this other Leo had appeared, he'd had several dreams that included memories of him with his own Leo when they were kids. He sat up in his hammock and walked over to his bookshelf. While Leo's bookshelf was stocked with actual books, Raph's bookshelf stored mostly weapons and a few small hand-held weights. But he moved some of the clutter aside and pulled out a motorcycle magazine. He flipped it open and pulled out the two pages that he'd managed to save from that book he'd accidentally destroyed so many years ago. He'd tried to keep the whole book, but the juice had caused most of the pages to eventually mold. Leo probably didn't even know that he'd kept any part of it. But he had. Because it reminded him of that kiss from Leo.

He left his room and went next door. Leo left his door open when he slept. Raph wasn't sure why. Probably so he could always hear what was going on in the rest of the lair. But the open door allowed him to peek in and stare at this other version of his big brother.

This wasn't his Leo. It was the same face. And the same goddamn scent. He was damn close to his Leo. Close enough that Raph was beginning to feel frustrated with longing for his own Leo when he looked at him. How could he miss Leo this much while looking right at his face? He leaned on the door frame and watched Leo sleep. This may not be his Leo but being able to look in on him gave him a sense of peace he'd not felt in a long time.

Leo sensed someone nearby and was surprised to find Raphael standing inside the doorway. He sat up and moved his shell back to the headboard as he rubbed at his eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice groggy with sleep. Raph didn't answer and Leo raised his eyes to him again. "Raph?"

Raph took a few steps into the room and sat at the end of Leo's bed. "What's yer relationship with yer Raph like?"

"Our relationship?"

Raph nodded. "Yeah. So far you've said that you don't lecture him and that you don't really fight. That's not what it was like between us when he left." He looked up at Leo. "You've got that symbol on yer arm. Is that for him?"

Leo paused. He hadn't wanted to tell this Raphael the true nature of his and Raph's relationship. It seemed like it would complicate things here even more. But he couldn't lie to Raphael. No matter what dimension Raphael he was talking to.

"Yes, it's his mark," he said slowly.

Raph nodded at the knowledge. He'd already known it. But there was something important in hearing Leo say it.

He took a deep breath. "Can I ask you somethin then?"

Leo nodded through a yawn.

"Before you two got together," he paused. "If you'd just lost yer father, and I told ya I hated you, would ya have left?"

Leo tilted his head as his eyes widened. "You told him you hated him?" He could see the guilt all over Raph's face.

"Would ya have believed me if I said it? Would it have made ya run away?" Raph stared hard at Leo.

Leo looked away. As much as he was adamant that he would never leave his Raphael or his family willingly, he considered this Raph's question. He knew the loss of Master Splinter would've severely affected him, especially at such a young age. And back when he was eighteen, he did sort of think Raph hated him. And if he'd had to hear Raphael say that to him out loud, well, maybe. Maybe he would've run.

Leo looked back to Raph and Raph saw the answer on Leo's face.

"It was still his choice to leave," Leo said when he saw the sad look on Raph's face. "You didn't tell him to go. And I can almost guarantee that it's hardly the worst thing you've ever said to him."

Raph huffed out a breath.

"It was probably just poor timing," Leo added.

They sat in silence for a few moments as Raph thought about Leo's words.

"Have you actually looked for him?"

"You think I haven't looked for my Leo?" Raph growled at him.

"You think he doesn't know how to stay hidden?" Leo stated plainly, raising an unimpressed eye ridge at Raph's snarl.

Raphael rolled his eyes at this other Leo, but then asked, "Well, where would you go?"

Leo had thought about this. He figured one of them would eventually ask him to try to get some clue as to where their Leo had gone. He'd never thought about leaving his family. He had no idea where this Leo would've gone.

"If you haven't seen him in two years, I'd say he's definitely not in the city. And if I didn't have my Raph," Leo said. "I'd probably head somewhere warm."

Raph huffed out a small laugh, thinking about how cold Leo always seemed to be.

"If Donnie could make something to find me in another _dimension_ , couldn't he do something to find me here?"

"I didn't even know he was makin that machine in the first place," Raph said. "I didn't know he could do anything like that. But I hadn't really been home much lately either."

"You know Don brought me here because he was worried about losing you and Mikey."

Raph nodded. He hadn't been a very good brother in a long time.

Leo could see the guilt on Raph's face again. He was about to say something to squash it when Raph spoke.

"Can I ask you something else?"

Leo nodded.

"How did you two actually end up together?"

Leo thought back. "It was your nineteenth birthday."

Raph raised an eye ridge. "Were you my birthday present?"

Leo shook his head and huffed out a small laugh despite himself, thinking of all the _presents_ they had shared on their birthdays over the years since then. "He heard me having a nightmare. And he came in my room to wake me up." Leo paused at the sudden pain in his chest. He missed his Raph.

"And?" Raph asked when he could see that Leo's mind had wandered.

Leo sighed and shifted his eyes back to Raph's face. "And he dropped the scowl. Kissed me. Apologized."

"You forgave him?"

"Immediately," Leo said.

Raphael thought about it. He didn't think a reconciliation with his own Leo would be that easy.

Leo watched Raph think. "It would be that easy." Leo said and watched Raph lift his head in Leo's direction as Leo had so easily voiced his unspoken thoughts. "I miss my Raph. Trust me, he _misses_ you. Raph's always found me. You have to find him."

Raph nodded again as he stood. "Thanks, Leo."

Leo pushed himself back down in the bed and turned his shell to the door. "Night, Raph."


	6. Chapter 6

Leo got a bad feeling as soon as he walked into Donnie's lab after dinner. He watched Sadie shoot Don a sympathetic glance before she quickly excused herself and left.

"No progress?" Leo asked.

"Actually, with Sadie's help I was able to come up with an improved teleporter. The technology we created is really impressive, she's –,"

"A genius. I know, Donnie. What's the bad news?"

Donnie's face, which was excited in a way that Leo recognized as the _Sadie effect_ , suddenly dropped.

"Tell me, Donatello."

"I have to start from scratch and create a new machine, Leo."

Leo sat down on a stool. "Scratch?"

"I'm sorry, Leo. With the new teleporter, it would be fairly simple to send you back. But I've tried everything I could think of to reconfigure this original machine but nothing is working to find your dimension. This machine was created to find you and bring you here, not give me coordinates for your location. I have no idea where you're from. I have no idea where to transport you."

Leo stared at Donnie as his stomach sank. He knew that this young Donatello had no idea how many dimensions there were to search through, either. Leo didn't even know for sure. He only had an idea based off the stories Usagi had told him. But apparently Donnie thought he'd be able to just create a machine that would allow him to start searching for Leo's world. For Leo's home.

Leo's chest felt tight again. He needed air. He left the lab without saying another word to Donnie and headed to the tunnels.

It wasn't long before he heard footsteps behind him. He stopped suddenly and turned to find Raphael trying to catch up with him.

"Don had bad news?" Raph asked before Leo could ask him why he was following him.

"Raph, listen to me," Leo said, thinking of his own Raph and how very very far away he now seemed since it looked like he wasn't going home any time soon. "Even if I never get to leave here, I am not a replacement for _your_ Leo. You promise me right now that you're going to find him."

Raph stared at Leo's fierce blue eyes and nodded his head. "I promise I'll find him."

Leo nodded as his eyes softened. "You won't even have to do anything else, Raphael. He's loved you forever. You just have to show up."

Raph stared at this Leo's face. Into this Leo's blue eyes and thought again about how much he wanted his Leo back.

Leo turned to go before stopping to face Raph again. "I'm going for a run. Alone." He could see that Raph wanted to protest. Raphaels everywhere apparently hated his solitary running. "You go back to the lair."

Raph did want to protest. It was freezing cold outside and more importantly, Leo was upset and it would've been safer if he had someone watching his back while he worked out what was going through his head. But he nodded anyway and watched as Leo turned again and took off in a sprint.

* * *

Leo stood in the dark on the rooftop edge of what should've been Hamato Engineering and stared down at the street below him. He'd been to his old basketball court earlier and couldn't decide if he was happy or not to see the ball sitting right where the other Leo would've left it. He didn't feel like playing, though, so he moved on and found himself heading in the direction of what should've been his home.

Despite the loud sounds from the street below, his ears picked up footsteps behind him and he listened closely until he placed the heavier footfalls as Raphael's. He frowned. He'd gone to the basketball court and then here because no one else in this world knew where these places were. So either Raph followed him, or –

"What are you doing up here, Fearless?"

He froze when he heard the perfect pitch in that deep voice. His breathing stopped. He slowly turned and found _his_ Raphael standing behind him. He stared at the vibrant emerald skin and saw his mark right there on Raph's bulky bicep.

"So help me Hamato Raphael, you'd better really be standing here in front of me," he said, his voice so tight the words barely made it out.

Raph's green eyes shone in the darkness but Leo realized immediately that this time the shine was from unshed tears.

"How did you-,"

But he didn't get to finish as Raph swiftly pulled him forward by his shoulders and covered Leo's mouth with his own as a small gasp left Leo. Raph's hands moved to the back of his neck and Leo was sure there'd be bruises there when they were finished but he couldn't find it within himself to care at that moment. Raphael could hold on to him as tight as he wanted. He reached his own hands up and squeezed Raph's arms in return, relishing the feel of solid muscle. He pushed his tongue into Raph's mouth and twisted it around Raph's tongue.

Raph broke the kiss only so he could pull his face away and look again at Leo's face. His eyes moved down Leo's body and back up again. "Are ya hurt at all? Are ya ok?"

Leo answered by pressing his face into Raph's neck and wrapping his arms around Raph's shell as a shiver ran through him.

"What mess did you get yerself into this time?" Raph whispered.

Leo shook his head. "I didn't do it." He pressed his mouth to Raph's again, pulling him close enough that their plastrons scraped together. He moved his face back into Raph's neck and said, "You'd better really be here."

"I'm definitely here, Leo," Raph said as he kissed the side of his face. "I told you a long time ago that yer mine and I'm keepin ya."

Leo pulled his face out of the emerald neck and smiled at him before he kissed him again.

Raph tightened his arms around Leo. "Yer freezing. Even yer tongue is cold."

Leo laughed. He lifted his face again. "Akito and Machi?"

Raph nodded. "They're worried but they're safe, Leo. They're ok." He squeezed Leo again. "I'm taking you home."

"Wait," Leo said. "I can't just leave. I have to go back and say goodbye. I can't just leave them without saying goodbye."

Raph frowned at him. "Who do you want to say goodbye to? Yer turtle-nappers?"

Leo ran a hand down the side of Raph's face. He knew this sounded crazy but he'd made progress with these brothers and he wasn't about to ruin it by repeating the other Leo's mistake of disappearing without a word. "They're our brothers. Their Splinter is dead and their Leo left. And they needed me. I have to say goodbye."

"They sucked ya out of our kitchen because they wanted a Leo?"

Leo could see the anger growing in Raph's eyes and remembered the anger he'd felt when he'd first arrived as well.

"I needed you more," Raph growled. He didn't care if these were his brothers. He was finished sharing Leonardo.

"I know, Raphie. I needed you so much it hurt," Leo said, tightening his hold on Raphael. He leaned forward and kissed him again.

After a few moments Raph pulled away and sighed. "Fine, let's go. The sooner we do this the sooner I can get you home safe."

Raph clutched Leo's hand as they moved across rooftops and down into the sewers as Leo quickly filled him in on who had brought him there and why. He stopped them right outside the lair entrance and tried to let go of Raph's hand.

Raph glared at him. "I'm keeping my hands on you."

"Raph, this Leo left before he and Raphael got together. I ended up telling this Raph about you and me when he asked, but Mike and Don don't know anything about it."

Raph glared at him again.

"Give me five minutes to say goodbye. Then I may just order you to keep your hands on me the rest of my life."

Raph continued to glare at him but released his hand before they entered the lair.

Raph glanced around at the bright and fully furnished sewer home. "This is weird," he murmured over to Leo.

Mikey and Woody entered the main room from the kitchen with bowls of popcorn and Mikey stopped in his tracks to stare at them. "Donnie!" he called out.

Leo and Raph watched as Donnie poked his head out of the lab. His eyes widened when he spotted Leo and Raph by the door. He moved slowly out of his lab and Raph watched as Sadie soon poked her head out of the lab as well.

"You wanted me to tell you when Leo came back," Mikey said to Donnie. "He's back. And either Raph's bulked up in the last ten minutes since I last saw him or that's not our Raph with him."

"Is that your Raphael?" Donnie asked, coming slightly closer to them, a look of disbelief on his face. "From your world?" He realized he could've asked the red-clad turtle standing next to Leo directly, but this Raph was larger than their Raph and Donnie felt slightly intimidated by the angry look this Raph was sending his way.

"Yes," Leo said, watching as the other Raph appeared at the top of the stairs. "He's come to take me home. But I wanted to say goodbye to you all before we left."

Raph watched as an extremely young Mikey darted to Leo and wrapped his arms around his shell. He heard Mikey whisper, "Thank you, Leo," and knew that Leo had been right in returning to say goodbye to these other brothers. Of course, Leo usually was right, Raph thought to himself as Leo shot him an ' _I told you so_ ' look. He hoped that Leo could read the ' _smug dork_ ' look he shot back at him.

Leo wrapped his arms around Mikey's shell and hugged him back. "I'm sure your Leo will be home soon," he murmured back to Mikey. "Donnie and Raph will make sure of it."

Donnie stepped forward next and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck as he said, "I'm sorry, Leo. I know I let you down. But I can't thank you enough for the changes you made around here for us. We did need you."

Leo nodded to Donnie as he pried Mikey off his plastron.

"I would kick yer ass, Don, but leader turtle here says I can't," Raph said. "Plus, he didn't tell me you guys were babies."

"We're not babies, old man," Mikey said, smiling over at him.

Raph smiled as he watched Woody poke Mikey in the side.

"How did you get here? How did you find him?" Donnie asked, finally feeling brave enough to address this new Raphael.

Raph took a deep breath and released it as he thought over everything he and his own family had been through in the last two months and watched as Leo's fingers twitched in reflex, fighting the urge to reach out and touch him.

"Well, once we figured out that Leo wasn't in our dimension anymore," Raph said, sending a pointed glare at Donnie who ducked his eyes to the floor, "our Donnie and Sadie created a machine to search other dimensions for him. That was the easy part," Raph said. "The hard part was tracking down a power source strong enough to make it run." He turned his attention back to Leo who stood listening. "We may have had to make a quick run to Dimension X to steal some crystals."

"What?!" Leo said, straightening and crossing his arms.

Raph almost laughed when he saw the other two little brothers in the room take a tiny step back out of the corner of his eyes. He didn't let the laugh escape though. He knew Leo wasn't going to like this next part.

"Don't worry, we brought Mikey with us and Akito even managed to bring home some extra crystals using that tail of his."

"You brought Akito to Dimension X?!"

"Who's Akito?" Mikey asked.

Leo ignored him. "Raphael!"

"I didn't bring him," Raph said, throwing his hands up as he met Leo's fierce blue gaze. "He just refused to be left behind and jumped through the portal before it closed. He wanted to help."

"How about Machi? Did you let her go too?"

Mikey wanted to ask who Machi was as well but decided to stay out of the strange discussion these other big brothers were having.

"No, she stayed behind with her favorite aunt."

Mikey and Donnie exchanged confused glances.

The younger Raphael slowly moved down the stairs. Watching another version of himself having a secret, albeit loud, conversation with this Leo was one of the most fascinating things he'd ever seen. He knew he could see what his other brothers couldn't see – the fear in Leo's eyes and the reassurance that Raph's eyes were sending back.

When Leo appeared calmer and even uncrossed his arms, Raph turned back to Donnie and continued. "So we got the power source we needed and Don was able to turn on his machine and start the search. It took a few days of running it non-stop because apparently there are about a gazillion or so dimensions it had to scan, but it finally found this one. And the rabbit got us our very own transporter to send me here and bring us back."

"You guys have a rabbit?" Mikey asked excitedly.

"Unfortunately, yes," Raphael said, rolling his eyes. "Quit smirkin at me," he said to Leo.

"Well, I'm glad you're going home, Leo," Donnie said and Leo could see the relief on Donnie's face that he was no longer in charge of finding a way to make that happen.

Leo's eyes shifted and Raph followed his gaze. His own eyes narrowed in on a younger version of himself now standing at the bottom of the stairs.

He watched though as Leo didn't make a move towards the other Raphael. Instead he raised his eye ridges in a silent question and Raph watched as the other Raph stood up a little straighter and nodded in return.

Raph watched as Leo began to unbuckle the spare katana he was wearing to leave them behind and he took the opportunity to head over to the alternate version of himself. "You find yer Leo," he growled to him, keeping his voice low so the others couldn't hear. "You don't give up until you find him and you apologize and you bring him home."

He watched as the other Raph nodded solemnly back to him.

"Cause whatever yer picturing in yer head as far as how it could be if you two were together, trust me, it's a _million_ times better. Yer gonna take care of each other." He turned to go join Leo before stopping and poking a finger into the plastron of his alternate self. "And ya have better have kept yer damn hands off of _my_ Leo." He smiled at the smirk he received for an answer.

Raph nodded his head towards the exit and Leo nodded in return. Leo stopped just before leaving and turned back to the group.

"By the way, Karai is in Japan. Call her and get her back here. She needs this family too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love reunion chapters
> 
> That beautiful artwork stuck in the middle there was created as a commission piece by the the wonderful sakycchan. I LOVE seeing a visual of one of my favorite scenes and I hope you enjoy it as well.
> 
> [Also, here's a link back to Flickr for the picture, which is kind enough to let me store my photos to be embedded in stories](https://flic.kr/p/VGhaa7)   
> 


	7. Chapter 7

It had taken Donatello a few weeks to work out how to reconfigure his machine to work within their own universe but once he had, it zeroed in on their Leo's location immediately. Sadie had pitched in while teasing him that he'd created the original machine to work harder than he'd ended up needing it to work by searching out other dimensions instead of his own.

But Donnie knew that they _had_ needed it to work that hard to first pull the other Leo here. Without the other Leo, he wouldn't have Sadie in his life. Mike wouldn't be smiling again and spending more and more of his free time with Woody. And Raph would still be out trashing himself every night with Casey.

And perhaps most important of all, Raph wouldn't have already forgiven their Leo for leaving. Raph wouldn't be on a mission to bring their Leo back to them.

He tested his new transporter on a few pieces of fruit, moving them from one room of the lair to another, before he felt confident enough to try to transport his brother. He didn't like the idea of sending Raphael away. And since he could pinpoint their Leo, he had first suggested that he could just transport Leo home. But Raphael had vehemently disagreed with that option, although he wouldn't tell Donnie his reasons.

But Raphael knew he owed it to Leo to go _to him_. And to apologize. And then he wanted Leo to come home willingly.

"Call me when you're ready to return," Donnie said, eyeing his older brother. Raphael looked nervous, something Donnie had never seen before unless it involved insects. He had a feeling the nerves had nothing to do with whether Donnie's machine would work and everything to do with the way Raph had begun to look at the other Leo before he'd left to go home.

"You will come back, right?" Mikey asked, standing just inside the lab door, as if he couldn't decide whether he wanted to witness this or not.

Raph met both their eyes and nodded. He sent another nod to Donnie and watched as Don typed a few things into his machine.

Going from the cold air in Donnie's lab to the sweltering heat of the jungle of Central America was a shock in itself, second only to the tremor that ran through his body following the particle transportation. He looked down at himself and was thankfully all in one piece.

The jungle plants were thick and he made noise taking just one step forward. He paused for a second at the loud noise, but then continued, letting his feet fall heavily as he pushed his way through the trees and foliage. Since there was no way he was going to creep up on the perpetually-silent Leonardo, he figured he may as well make noise and lead Leo to him. He certainly counted stomping through the heat of this jungle as having gone pretty far to reach out to his long-lost brother.

He walked in the sweltering heat, swatting away bugs that made his skin crawl, until he heard moving water and headed towards it. Maybe his next thought stemmed from the fact that he was raised in a sewer or that it was the first one he'd ever seen, but the waterfall he came upon was magnificent, certainly more amazing than any he'd ever seen in movies. He forgot that he was hot and that there were more bugs than he'd ever encountered crawling within inches of him and just stood staring at it for a few moments.

"Raph?"

He froze. There. That was the voice of _his_ Leo. He felt a shiver run down his spine. The pitch was ever so slightly different from the Leo he'd recently spent two months with. Most people probably wouldn't even notice the difference.

He slowly turned around and found his big brother standing only a few feet away from him. The sight of Leo, _his_ Leo, made his stomach squirm. Leo wore a dark hooded cloak, but his blue eyes shone out despite the hood.

He walked slowly towards Leo and lifted his hand to push the hood off Leo's head. He noted that while Leo stared hard at him, Fearless didn't even flinch to Raph's raised hand. When the hood was down, Raph realized it wasn't enough and he used both of his hands to push the cloak off Leo's shoulders. Once it was gone, his eyes roamed over Leo. His skin was darker, no doubt from being excessively outside. Raph liked it and resisted the urge to rub his hands down Leo's tan arms. He continued to stare and noted that although he could still see muscle definition, Leo was much skinnier. He eyed a few new scrapes and knicks on Leo's plastron before glancing down at Leo's legs where he quickly noted a few new scars there as well.

His eyes traveled back up Leo's body to his face where he found Leo's eyes examining him as well. He began to consider just how different he must look and suddenly regretted not taking better care of himself for the past two years. He silently thanked the other Leo for forcing him back into the dojo recently. He shifted nervously for a few seconds under Leo's fierce blue gaze. At least Leo had a good excuse for being skinnier. Who know what there was to eat down here.

He reached forward again and once again Leo didn't flinch. Raph slid his hand gently down one side of Leo's face before his fingers slid back to grip the back of Leo's neck as he took another step towards Leo in order to rest his forehead against Leo's forehead. His eyes slid shut and he took a deep breath in and was rewarded with Leo's scent. Again he felt a squirming sensation in his stomach. He could feel Leo's muscles tense under his fingers but noted that Leo didn't pull away from him.

"Leo," Raph whispered, raising his other hand to finally give into the urge to run his fingers down Leo's arm.

Although Raph's eyes were shut, Leo kept his eyes open and continued to stare at Raphael's emerald face, now only an inch or so away from his own. If it wasn't for the actual feeling of Raph's fingers on his skin or Raph's breath on his face, he would assume the heat of the jungle was affecting him more than usual today. He'd imagined Raphael here with him numerous times over the past two years. But he never expected to actually find him standing here. And certainly not with this kind of greeting.

He could feel his muscles tense under Raph's hands but even that involuntary reaction wasn't enough to stop his hands from shaking with need to touch Raph in return. He finally lifted his hands and cupped Raph's face. He watched as Raph's eyes snapped open at the unexpected contact.

Raph watched as Leo's fierce blue gaze softened as he used his thumbs to rub under Raph's eyes and brush away tears Raph hadn't even been aware were running down his face.

"Missed you, Raphie."

Raph nodded quickly in return. "Need you," Raph managed to whisper back. "I'm sorry, Leonardo. I'm so sorry I said I hated you. I've never hated you. I was just-,"

Leo pressed his lips to Raph's lips, cutting his apology short. He knew he owed Raph an apology, too. He never should have run away. Or run so far. Or stayed away for so long.

But right now he wanted to focus on answering the churr he'd just heard from Raph's throat. And the feeling of Raph's lips against his own. The pleasure of having Raph's tongue press its way into his mouth. Raph's fingers as they tightened around the back of his neck and his arm.

There'd be time to talk later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of my all-time favorite chapters that I have ever written. And the fact that I got to write two separate reunions is just another reason why this story is one of my favorites.


	8. Chapter 8

Raphael clutched Leo's hand as they reappeared on the dark but well-kept rooftop of Hamato Engineering. He moved them immediately out of the windy cold and into the stairwell before he pushed Leo's shell against the wall and pressed himself against Leo's body. He gripped the edges of Leo's shell and pressed his face into Leo's neck.

Leo wrapped his arms around Raph's shell quickly in return. "Raph?" Leo asked, nudging Raph's face with his own to encourage him to lift his face.

But Raph shook his head and stubbornly nuzzled his face deeper into Leo's neck. "I have to share you in a few minutes," he finally whispered, breathing in Leo's scent. He pressed more of his weight against Leo's body and felt Leo's arms tighten around his shell.

"I didn't know how I was ever going to get home," Leo said, thinking about the conversation he'd had earlier that night with the other Donnie about starting from scratch on a new machine.

"I'll always find you," Raph whispered back.

"Yes," Leo said, nodding. He began kissing the side of Raphael's face until Raph finally lifted his head and began to return the affection. Leo smiled into the kiss and ran a hand down the side of the emerald face. "I missed your face."

Raph scoffed. "Apparently you've been lookin at my face for the past two months."

"No," Leo said, frowning. "That wasn't you. If anything, looking at him made me miss you even more."

Raph sighed as he pressed his hands to the wall on either side of Leo's body and reluctantly pushed himself away from Leo. "Everyone is waiting," he said, as he reached down and took one of Leo's hands. They moved to head down the stairs when Leo wrapped his free hand around Raph's neck and pulled him back into a hug.

"Thank you, Raphael," he murmured.

Raph nodded, swallowing over a lump in his throat as he hugged Leo back before leading Leo down the stairs to their father's apartment where he knew the entire family was camped out waiting. Raph squeezed Leo's hand outside the apartment before he opened the door and shoved Leo in first. He followed him and leaned his shell against the door as he happily watched their family first freeze and then all quickly jump forward to pounce the poor turtle.

Akito and Machi reached him first. Leo had zeroed in on the children as soon as he'd entered the room and his arms were ready for them as they flung themselves at him. He squeezed them both tight as he lifted them both up, one in each arm, as he felt their arms and tails wrap around him in return. He pressed his face into both of their faces.

"Missed you," he whispered to both of them as he felt the rest of the family begin to crowd around them. He locked eyes with Akito and smiled, a silent assurance to his son that he was ok. Akito's eyes were still full of questions but he smiled in return and gave Leo a small nod.

Leo turned to Machi next and smiled at her as well. "Thank you for not growing while I was gone," he said to her and she shook her head and giggled through tears he could see building up in her eyes.

"You found him!" Mikey said, giving Raph a hug with one arm while he rested his other hand on Leo's shoulder. Leo continued to hold both kids, which kept his arms busy, but he leaned into Mikey's hand and smiled at his baby brother. Although he'd admit that after spending the last two months with Mike's younger counterpart, Mikey didn't look so much like a baby anymore.

"We missed you," Donnie said, coming up behind Mikey and scanning Leo over to see if he had any visible injuries. "We need you around here."

Leo made a strange choking noise in his throat and immediately felt Raph's hand grip his free shoulder. "I'm glad, Donnie," he finally said. "Thank you for working so hard to find a way to bring me back. Thank you."

"Do you need any medical attention?" Donnie asked in a lower voice.

Leo shook his head as he turned to his father, who, like the others in the room, had waited for the children and the turtle brothers to have their moment with Leo first.

Master Splinter approached his eldest son and quickly wrapped him in a hug that included the two foxes Leo still held in his arms.

"Welcome home, my son," he said as he released Leo and Leo smiled at his father, grateful that his world still held a Master Splinter.

Leo squeezed his foxes and rubbed his face into their furry faces again before he began to finally move away from the door to receive hugs from the humans that made up the remainder of his family – April, Casey, Miwa, Woody and Sadie. He smiled over at little Shadow who had already dozed off in one of Master's Splinter's armchairs.

Raph turned to Usagi, who had also stood back to let the rest of the group greet Leo first. He thrust his hand towards the rabbit to give the inter-dimensional transporter back to him.

"Give it Donatello," Usagi said. "I requested an extra for your family to keep. Who knows what other trouble Leonardo will get himself into in the future."

Raph watched as Usagi's eyes followed Leo as he moved around the room. "Yer in love with him," Raph said in a low voice.

Usagi refused to meet Raph's eyes. "It does not matter."

"It matters to me," he growled.

"It does not matter to _him_. So it does not matter," Usagi replied calmly.

Raph glared lightly at the rabbit but stopped when Leo reappeared next to him, his arms still full of their red foxes.

"Usagi, thank you," Leo said.

"Welcome home, Leonardo," Usagi said, as he still refused to meet Raph's gaze. "You were dearly missed by your students."

"I look forward to seeing them," Leo said. He was about to question Raph's glare when Mikey reappeared next to him and clamped his hand back on Leo's shoulder.

"Where have you been, bro?" Mikey asked.

"You're sure you're not hurt? You're not hiding any injuries?" Donnie asked.

"That's enough for tonight," Raphael said, sensing a sudden overwhelming discomfort coming from Leo. Raph had planned to let Leo sit and be seen and comforted by the entire family, but he was going to follow his instincts and get Leo and their little foxes out of there. The rest of the family could spend time with him later.

There were a few complaints but Master Splinter nodded his approval to Raphael as Raph looped an arm around Leo and pulled him back out in the quiet hallway. Akito edged down to the ground and grabbed hold of one of Leo's hands while Machi decided she preferred to be carried as they made their way downstairs.

They stepped through their own apartment entrance and Raphael watched Leo breathe a sigh of relief and knew he'd made the right choice in getting Leo out of the crowd.

"I'll be back," Leo said, carrying Machi off to her room. Although she could drive him crazy with the stunts she came up with to delay bedtime, he'd really missed putting his daughter to bed every night. He tucked Machi under her blanket and then sat next to her on the bed. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Raph and Akito positioned in the living room in spots that kept him in their vision.

"You just got home," Machi said, through a yawn. "I don't want to go to bed yet."

"You're sleepy," Leo said, smiling down at her. "And I'll be here in the morning when you wake up." He pulled his T-phone off his belt and opened it. "I want you to look at this, though," he said, pulling up his photo album. He swiped to one of his favorite photos of her. She'd been swinging on the porch swing at the farmhouse this past summer and he'd snapped it when he caught her giggling. Mikey and Miwa weren't visible in the photo, but he remembered that she'd been laughing at a spar between the two in the front yard.

Machi peered at the screen and smiled when she saw the picture. She had laughed until her stomach hurt that day watching the silly antics of her Uncle Mikey against the serious moves of her Aunt Miwa.

"I missed you every single day," Leo said quietly. "And I pulled this photo up every single day and it made me feel like I wasn't so far away from home."

"Really?" Machi whispered, fighting her tired eyes to stay awake. It was getting harder to do as she listened to her father's comforting voice.

"Yes. It was a pretty big job but you pulled it off every day," he said, smiling down at her sleepy face. "I owe you big time."

Machi smiled back at him and allowed her eyes to close. He sat there and waited until he knew she was in a deep sleep before rising and leaving her room.

His eyes flashed to Raphael who sat with his arms sprawled across the back of the couch. He gave Leo a quick nod as Leo reached his hand out and pulled Akito off the couch to lead him into his room as well.

He stood waiting until Akito was under his blanket before crossing his arms and scowling at his son. "I hear you jumped a portal and made a visit to Dimension X."

Akito's eyes widened as he stared up at his father. "He _already_ told you?"

Leo glared at him.

Akito bit his inner lip and glanced down at his lap. He fiddled his fingers together and kept his eyes down as the words began to tumble out of his mouth. "I couldn't stay back and do nothing while you were missing and I made sure I had one of those breathing tubes that Uncle Donnie made and I even brought some extra crystals home-," his words were cut off as Leo lunged forward and wrapped him in a tight hug.

"You helped save me again, buddy," Leo whispered.

Akito breathed a small sigh of relief as he rested his head on his dad's shoulder and gave him a big hug in return. "We really missed you," he said.

Leo stood up and gave Akito a playful nudge so he fell back against his pillow. "No more missing me," he said. "I'll see you in the morning." He got a nod from Akito before he pulled the bedroom door shut and then turned to face Raphael.

His eyes trailed over Raphael again and he walked slowly over to him before pulling Raph up and leading him to their bedroom. The door made a funny popping sound when it was opened and Leo was hit with a dusty smell as they entered. He smirked over at Raph as he shut the door behind them.

"If you haven't opened that door in two months, where have you been sleeping?" He asked as he turned Raph around and pushed him down to sit on the edge of their bed.

"Couch," Raph said as he let Leo lift each of his arms to pull off his elbow pads.

Leo crouched in front of him next and removed both of Raph's knee pads, keeping his eyes on Raph's eyes as he worked. Next he moved over to his bedside table and lit some incense to cover the dusty smell in the room as he pushed his own gear off.

He walked back over to Raphael and climbed over his legs to straddle his lap. His hands slid from Raph's elbows up to his shoulders where he began a gentle massage. He watched as Raph's face settled into a small smile as he rubbed his hands up Leo's legs. Leo moved his massaging fingers to the back of Raph's neck and smiled as Raph's eyes slid shut and he groaned lightly. He untied Raph's bandana and pulled it away with one hand and then tilted his head to examine Raph's face.

"You _haven't_ been sleeping," Leo murmured, running his thumbs lightly over the dark circles under Raph's eyes.

"No," Raph said, knowing there was no point in trying to deny it.

Leo leaned forward to kiss him and sighed into Raph's mouth as he felt Raph's arms wrap around him. He pushed his tongue past Raph's lips and was quickly welcomed in Raph's mouth. He groaned into Raph's mouth at the sheer familiarity of it as his body warmed from the heat radiating off of his favorite turtle.

He pulled his face away, eager to look into the face of his very own Raphael and was surprised to see Raph duck his eyes and lower his face. "Raphie?"

But Raphael didn't answer him as his fingers tightened around Leo. He'd been terrified of what had happened to Leo when he disappeared. He'd been unable to sleep thinking about what could be happening to Leo every minute that he couldn't get to him. He'd had no idea what he was going to find when he entered that other dimension.

"Ya gotta stop leavin me, Leo," Raph finally said, lifting his worried face after a few silent moments.

Leo pursed his lips and frowned as he rested his forehead against Raph's forehead. "I'm sorry, Raphael," he whispered in return.

Raph shook his head. "This wasn't yer fault. I know that."

"But I have been a target more often than not. And you're left to suffer and I'm sorry for that. It's not fair to you."

Raph pulled his face back so he could meet Leo's eyes as he tried and failed to smile. "The price I pay for loving leader turtle."

Leo stared hard at him. "This was harder on you this time, though, Raph."

Raph started to shake his head, "No, Leo, you were still the one taken from our home-,"

Leo pressed his mouth to Raph's again and pulled on his lower lip. "Just stop," he said before kissing the side of Raph's face and rolling his lower plastron forward so it rubbed against Raphael in just the right spot. "I'm going to rock you to sleep," he whispered as a churr rose from his throat and practically swallowed the last of his words.

He watched as a sincere smile finally reached Raphael's face.

[Machi by Wolfsonic602](http://reader315.deviantart.com/art/Machi-554489440)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something really cool happened as I was writing this story. Wolfsonic602 wanted to draw Machi and after asking a few questions about what she may or may not wear (just fur), what her weapon is (not official but I'm leaning towards the sais for the little vixen) and what color eyes she has (I gave free reign on that one), Machi was drawn out (see link at end of chapter to check her out!) 
> 
> Thank you Wolfsonic602 for loving Machi enough to give us a visual! She has a kind of mischievous look to her which I think suits her perfectly.


	9. Chapter 9

Leo was worried about Raphael.

Raph hadn't been acting like himself since Leo returned and Leo knew he had to find a way to fix it. Even though Leo was the one sucked out of their home, he knew his disappearance had been a lot harder on Raphael than it had been on himself. Yes, he had been taken from their home and yes he had missed Raphael and yes there had been moments when he hadn't been completely sure he'd ever make it back to his own dimension. But overall, he'd spent the two months with his brothers and he'd managed to come out of this abduction without any injuries.

Raphael, on the other hand, had been left not only missing Leo, but also worrying about what harm he could be enduring. He was left to handle everything to do with keeping up their home and taking care of the kids while he worried and checked in frequently with Donnie to see what progress they were making in tracking Leo down. He hadn't known that Leo was safe. Or that he wasn't being hurt.

And now that Leo was back, he watched as Raph kept his eyes on him almost constantly. Leo had woken up a few times during the nights over the past two weeks and found Raphael wide awake with his eyes glued to Leo's face. Even now, during morning practice, Raph watched Leo instead of his opponent. It earned him a few hits to the head from nunchucks, a bo staff, and even April's tessen, but it didn't seem to phase him.

Raph's mind kept returning to the night he'd brought Leo home. When Leo had quite literally rocked Raph's exhausted body to sleep. Leo had been taken, but in the end, he was right, Raphael was the one who needed to be comforted the most. Flashes of that night seemed to stay with him constantly. Leo pushing him back into the mattress. Leo spreading his legs apart so that he could fit between them. Leo's whispers of love and adoration for Raphael and Raphael's strong body. Leo's adamant declaration that he would never willingly leave Raphael.

Willingly was the key word of course. And as precise as Leonardo was in everything he did, he couldn't leave that one word out in his declarations to Raphael. Because being who they were, Raph knew that Leo probably would disappear on him again in the future. That thought kept pushing its way into his mind as well.

Raph knew he'd have to quit staring at him though. Staring wouldn't actually keep Leo here. And not only had Leo seemed to have noticed, but the kids noticed too. Raph thought again about what had happened that very morning. One second, Leo was reaching to pull a coffee mug down for Raph and the next second, Leo, the now broken mug and Machi were all on the floor after she'd knocked Leo off balance and dragged him away from that spot in the kitchen. The very spot Leo had been standing when he'd vanished. It was actually a pretty advanced move considering Machi's slight frame compared to Leo's muscular bulk and if he hadn't been shocked to find himself on his shell on the ground, Raph thought Leo might've complimented her on it.

And Akito, their calm and level-headed boy, had also been on edge since Leo's return. He followed Leo everywhere and snapped at anyone who suggested he do something else. The only time Raph got Leo alone was at night after they put the kids in bed. Other than that, both kids followed him constantly around the apartment building. Raph glanced over to the sidelines where both kids were currently sitting. They'd even refused to stay downstairs to play with Grandpa Splinter and Shadow while the rest of the clan had morning training.

Raph had tried, but he couldn't convincingly reassure the kids that Leo wasn't going anywhere when he didn't feel that confident about that declaration himself. Plus, it'd been their own brother, albeit an alternative Donnie, but still, their own brother who'd sucked Leo away from them. So not only did they have to worry about bad guys trying to hurt their clan, but apparently they had to keep in mind other versions of themselves who might want to take one of them for their own purposes.

Leo glanced at his kids and then back to Raphael as he ended their training that day.

"Casey and April, will you take our little foxes downstairs with you and ask Master Splinter if he wouldn't mind staying with them in our apartment?" Leo asked, keeping his eyes on Raph's face as he spoke.

Raph glanced back at Leo as he spoke. He eyed the blank leader expression and heard the leader tone of voice. He heard protests from both Akito and Machi which were quickly silenced with a look from Leo.

"Come on you two," April said, reaching out for Machi's hand.

"He's gettin in trooubble," Mikey whispered over to Miwa, although he may have made the whisper loud enough for Raph to hear and smiled at the scowl Raph sent him.

Leo waited until everyone was gone before he unbuckled his swords and set them to the side. He walked to the center of the room, planted his feet in a defensive pose and looked expectantly at Raphael.

Raph eyed him warily as he removed his sais from his belt and met Leo in the middle of the mats.

Leo lunged at Raph as soon as Raph was within reach. Caught off guard, Raph dodged him at the final moment and spun away. Leo swung a kick which was quickly pushed back by Raph's fist. Leo had been expecting the hit and instead of being knocked off balance, Raph watched him easily move into a backflip.

"Donnie got you with that one during practice," Leo said to him as he swiped at Raph's head again with a fist.

Raph growled and blocked the fist. Leo feigned a strike at Raph's side which was also quickly blocked, leaving his other side open. Leo swung for that side and was pleased when Raph blocked it as well.

"Mike got you with that one," Leo said.

Raph narrowed his eyes at him. "You tryin to teach me a lesson, Fearless?"

"Of course I am," Leo said, distracting Raph with another fist swinging towards his head so he could loop his feet under Raph's ankles and knock him forward to his plastron. He quickly swung one of Raph's arms behind him as he landed on Raph's shell.

Raph quickly recognized the hold and knew that if he struggled he'd only cause pain to his captured arm.

"You think I enjoy watching you get your stubborn head knocked about during a simple training exercise?" Leo asked.

Raph could feel Leo's breath on his neck and struggled against the pin despite the pain it caused his arm.

"Why are you staring at me during practice instead of watching out for your own ass?" Leo growled at him, pulling Raph's arm back a little further when he could feel Raph trying to roll his body to get loose.

Raph froze as the curse left Leo's mouth. So Leo _was_ pissed. "I'm just making sure yer _ass_ doesn't go anywhere," Raph growled back at him, irritated that he couldn't move Leo's lighter frame off his shell.

Leo sighed. That's what he thought. He loosened the hold he had on Raph's arm and allowed Raph to twist and free himself. Leo soon found himself on his own shell underneath Raph's body. Raph rested his weight on his hands on either side of Leo's head and Leo watched as the anger quickly left his green eyes. "Do you really think I'm going to disappear in front of you again?"

"It _happened_ , Leo," Raph said, glaring down at him.

"Yes," Leo said, nodding. "But what are the chances it will happen again? And the kids are watching you watch me. They're feeding off it." He watched Raph's eyes dart to the side before those green eyes returned their attention to his face. "And, I didn't miss you all that time I was gone to come back to a Raphael who's only half here."

Raph leaned down to cover Leo's lecturing mouth with his own and was happy when Leo finally ditched his blank leader look and greedily kissed him in return. "Do you have to be right _all_ the time?" he growled into Leo's mouth.

"One of us has to be right all the time," Leo replied, suddenly grinning up at him. He quickly knocked Raph's hands out to the sides and caused the emerald turtle to lose his balance. Leo quickly flipped them with a growl that sent a shiver down Raph's spine as his shell hit the mats again and Leo sat straddling him.

Leo stared down at his emerald turtle and began tracing his fingers down the edges of Raph's plastron until he reached where he was currently sitting at Raph's waist. He watched Raph squirm as his fingers moved to his sensitive sides to trace back up his body. He leaned forward and began kissing Raph as his hands moved to Raph's shoulders in order to being tracing down his arms. He pushed his tongue into Raph's mouth as he felt Raph's hands tightly grip the tops of his legs. Leo released Raph's mouth so he could move his face into Raph's neck and breathe in his favorite scent.

Raph smiled as he felt Leo nuzzle into his neck. "Is my lecture over?" he asked.

"That wasn't a lecture," Leo said, leaving a wet stripe up Raph's neck with his tongue. He smiled when he heard a small gasp from Raph. "Lectures don't work on Raphaels."

"Well I hope you didn't use yer _other_ technique on the _other_ Raphael," he said.

Leo lifted his head again and looked down at him. "Would it be cheating on you if I was still kissing a Raphael turtle?" he teased.

Raph narrowed his eyes at Leo and sat up quickly, knocking Leo on his rear on the mats. Leo laughed in surprise, despite the glower he was receiving from Raph. The laughter only made Raphael growl at him in return. He grabbed Leo by the shell and flipped him over, causing Leo to catch himself on his hands and knees.

"Yer payin for that one," Raph growled at him as he rubbed his hands over Leo's ass. He ran a finger through his mouth before gently pressing it into Leo. He began moving his finger and heard Leo's breathing immediately change. After a few moments, Leo nudged back towards him and Raph quickly wet another finger before pressing two fingers into Leo.

"I don't see how this is supposed to be a punishment," Leo gasped out after a few moments as he rocked his shell back towards Raphael.

Raph only smirked at Leo's rear end as he rose to his knees and guided himself to Leo's entrance to begin pressing himself in. He felt a shiver run through Leo and moaned once he was fully encased inside Leonardo.

"Move, Leo," Raph growled at him.

Leo smiled as he looked over his shoulder at Raph. In the nearly two weeks that he'd been home, this was the first time Raph had made any attempt to top. He'd taken Raph quite a few times since he'd been back and thought maybe Raph found comfort in it. But he had been wondering what Raph was waiting for. He slowly began rocking himself back and forth on Raph's length.

Raph churred as he watched Leo's movements and heard Leo's moans and immediately wondered why in all the years they'd been together that he'd never had Leo do this before.

"Faster Leo," Raph said and churred again as Leo did as he was told.

"Raph, fuck," Leo said, panting now with each push back.

Raph growled and pushed Leo's shell down, forcing his head and arms down to the mats. He heard a churr from Leo as he grabbed his hips and began thrusting himself repeatedly into Leo. "Shit, Leo. You know ya drive me crazy when ya curse like that."

"Harder, Raph," Leo groaned.

Raph was about to do as requested but stopped moving entirely and growled down at Leo, "Take it back, Leonardo."

Leo smirked into the mat his face was pressed into. "Take what back?" he panted, doing his best to sound innocent.

"You tell me right now that you haven't been kissing other Raphaels."

Leo huffed out a small laugh. "Only you, Raphie," Leo moaned out, pushing himself back towards Raph again.

Raph nodded. "That's right," he said, thrusting himself back into Leo as he reached around and began stroking Leo at the same pace. He heard Leo repeat his name with each thrust and grabbed hold of Leo's shell with his free hand as he watched Leo's hands clench into fists on the mat beneath him.

Leo whined suddenly as he felt Raph leave him altogether. But before he could ask what the hothead was doing, he was flipped back onto his shell and Raph was over him, pressing kisses to his face and neck before groaning as he reached Leo's mouth. Leo quickly wrapped his arms around Raph's broad shoulders and held onto him as he felt Raph readjust and press back into him. Leo's feet pressed into the mats and he lifted his hips to meet Raph's thrusts as Raph's hand also returned to stroking Leo.

Leo pulled his mouth away and Raph felt him pull his shoulders down farther so he could reach Raph's neck with his mouth. Another churr from Leo and Raph felt him bite into his neck to hold him in place as he clamped down around him with his release. Raph churred in response as white spots appeared in his vision as he reached his release as well. He collapsed on top of Leo, not that he could go anywhere else until Leo decided to release his neck, which he did a few moments later.

"You haven't done that since I came back," Leo said between panting breaths.

Raph grunted in response.

"Is that your official reply?"

Raph was silent for another moment. "I took ya that morning before you disappeared," he finally said.

"Raphie," Leo whispered.

"I know," Raph huffed out, lifting his head to look down at Leo. "It sounds dumb when I say it out loud."

"No it doesn't," Leo said with a small smile as he ran a hand down Raph's face. His smile grew a little wider as he watched Raph's eyes narrow at him.

"Were ya pushing my buttons on purpose to get me to take ya?"

Leo tried and failed to suppress his smile. "Would I do that to you?"

"Yes you would, ya jerk," Raph said, leaning down to kiss Leo again. "And I love ya for it."

"I love you back, Raphie. My heart is full of you."

"What about the rest of the clan?" Raph asked, trying not to flush at Leo's words.

"They get a small part."

"Even the kids?" Raph asked, grinning now.

Leo pulled Raph's face back down so he could nuzzle into his neck. "I love them. But one day they'll be grown. And I'll still have you."

Raph nodded in return. "Yes."

They stayed there for a few more moments but Leo pushed on his shoulder. "Let's hit the shower. You _are_ going to work today. No more staying home to stare at me. And I expect a lot more from you tomorrow during training."

Raph smirked at him. "Whatever you say, Master Leonardo."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The End. If you'd like to continue reading, the next story in the series is called "Excursions". 
> 
> My original author notes from when this story was originally published - I dedicated Raph's thoughts about Leo in these last 2 chapters to WhoAmI659 (Breathe2Life) as they were inspired by a review they left back on "Teamwork" – Leo and Raph are often the ones who feel the brunt of the danger seen by the clan and as they said, "It's understandable, considering their personalities and roles within the clan."
> 
> I can't tell you the number of times a review inspired me with a new idea or even changed the direction a plot was heading. Thank you all very much for the taking the time to let me know what you think or even just how much you've been enjoying a chapter or story.


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